IOC Member: London Olympic Bid can Learn from Beijing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 17, 2003

IOC Member: London Olympic Bid can Learn from Beijing

Beijing, the 2008 Olympic host, has set a good example to London's planned bid for the 2012 Olympics, a senior official of the British Olympic Association (BOA) said on Thursday.

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Beijing, the 2008 Olympic host, has set a good example to London's planned bid for the 2012 Olympics, a senior official of the British Olympic Association (BOA) said on Thursday.

"Apart from the technical excellence of the Beijing Bid, the clear lesson for the British Government is the necessity of total government support for the process," BOA Chairman Craig Reedie told Xinhua.

"The Beijing Bid was outstanding in this regard as everyone knew that it enjoyed complete government support," added Reedie, who is also member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Reedie, member of the IOC's evaluation commission for the 2008 Olympics, had been in a good position to know what made Beijing's bid successful.

Beijing won the bid in July 2001, beating the other four candidates including Toronto, Istanbul, Paris and Osaka.

London's bid is yet to win support from the British Government which will not make decision until the end of this month.

Realistic Chances

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had indicated early this week that the Government could only support an Olympic bid with realistic chances.

"You have got to see of course whether it is affordable but also whether you've got a good chance of winning or not," he said at his monthly press conference.

In the recent parliamentary hearings into the bid, British lawmakers also expressed concern over the massive cost of hosting the Olympics.

Project management consultants Arup have estimated the cost at 1.79 billion pounds, but Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the figure could be 4.5 billion pounds. The government would need to provide half the money to underwrite the games.

Reedie said the cost/benefit analysis prepared by Arup has been validated by the BOA, the Greater London Authority and the Government.

"But Government are nervous at its conclusions and have conducted their own studies. These result in higher assumed costs and we are currently meeting to agree a final set of figures," he said.

Reedie believed that the high costs of the Games would not deter cities from bidding to be Olympic hosts.

"In real terms the costs can be spread over many years," he said.

"And the overall costs depend more on the additional infrastructure improvements decided by governments rather than the core costs of running the sporting events.

"People often forget the huge contribution made to the host city by the IOC from international television sales and sponsorship," said Reedie.

Opinion Poll

Despite Government's hesitation at the bid, the BOA is trying its every endeavor to convince the Government to throw weight behind the bid.

"The BOA have provided the Government with all necessary information to allow them to make their decision," he said.

Meanwhile, the BOA has put together "a unique alliance in British Sport with support from all of sport, all political parties including those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the business community and almost every organization in London" .

The support has been evidenced by an opinion poll arranged by the Government which said that as many as 81 percent of people support the Olympic bid.

"This is an unusually high figure and is very encouraging for sport," Reedie said.

London has hosted the Olympic Games twice -- in 1908 and 1948 --but on both occasions at the request of the IOC.

"Britain has never won the right to host the Games as the result of a bid," said Reedie.

"The London Bid, if approved by Government, will be a very compact bid and very technically sound," he said.

Reedie, however, knows that the bid race would be quite tight.

"Winning the right to stage the Olympic Games is one of the most serious contests in world sport. There is only one gold medal," he said.

The only declared candidates for the 2012 Games are New York City and Moscow. Cities in Germany and Spain also plan to submit bids with Paris and Rio de Janeiro among other potential candidates.

The deadline for submission of bids is July 15 with the winner to be chosen in 2005.

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